The post-winter cleaning of the chicken house

Sun, 04/12/2026 - 5:16pm

Ed O’Brien

Photo by Ed O’Brien

There are certain things that need to be done in their time. Late summer/autumn brings wood stacking. The morning when the pile of wood — thankfully pre-split these days, not tree length as was delivered in my youth — needs to be stacked into even rows in the woodshed. A long morning involving the whole family, a portable speaker playing my wife’s favorite hip-hop tunes of the late 1990s, and a seemingly never ending pile of hard wood.

Planting and harvesting is staggered; different vegetables at different times, and I am rarely much a part of that. Beside the unsanctioned picking of raw peas when my mom isn’t around.

The post-winter cleaning of the chicken house, though, I have not yet figured out an excuse to get out of that chore.

For a backyard operation, our chicken situation is a bit extra. Do not ask me to count them. After all, chickens are not pets, but there are a lot of feathered dinosaurs alongside the garden. They supply plenty of eggs for two households’ protein needs, plus excess for sale in the barn fridge.

Due to an especially chilly winter, the chickens had several days when they were not let out into their yard, and by the time the shavings in their pen had thawed, and there was a sunny weekend day to face the chore, the conditions in the chicken house were... eye watering.

Unlike wood stacking day, when all the kids are recruited, my wife and I recognize that chicken house cleaning day is a different level, and we had only one boy join us, and he was financially motivated.

When my wife and her father built our chicken house a few years ago, from scratch, using lumber from trees he had both cut down and milled, they were clever enough to add a removable portion of the back wall. This was for the express purpose of having a place to shovel out the old shavings and, well, “chicken leavings".

A good four inches of wood shavings and a winter’s worth of fragrant remnants from a large flock of birds. Somehow, I managed to secure the role of wheelbarrow boy, outside the house, while my wife and youngest son shoveled out the coop, and I spread the resulting mess onto the garden. I was able to breath a bit better, but not much.

The dogs assisted: Conrad making sure to drop his ball right in front of the wheelbarrows, while Belladonna, still not fully trustworthy off the leash, happily barked at the chickens behind the fence.

The chicken coop is spread with fresh shavings, the flock will soon welcome a brand new batch of little sisters. The garden will benefit from the nutrients, to be tilled into the soil. The seedlings will be planted, the seeds will be sown. Things continue, as they always do, at this little place on the hill.

Sympathy

For the family of Jean Lewis. I do not believe I knew Jean, but she seems to have lived a full life, and will be remembered.

Every week I peruse the obituaries, looking for people of Lincolnville. Whole lives summarized in a few paragraphs. Who you were, where you have been, who will remember you? Maybe I am strange, but I find these brief write ups comforting. You were here, you are gone, but you are not forgotten.

Okay, Lincolnville, it is a sunny Sunday. Do something fun. I am going to make crumpets. Be kind, be well, and reach out at ceobrien24@gmail.com.

Municipal Calendar

Monday, April 13

Select Board 6 p.m., Town Office

Tuesday, April 14

Library open 3-6 p.m. 208 Main Street

AA Meeting 12:15 p.m., Community Building, 18 Searsmont Road

Budget Committee, 6 p.m., Town Office

Wednesday, April 15

Library open 2-5

Thursday, April 16

Library open 2-5 p.m. 208 Main Street